If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

(CNN) -- China announced Sunday that it had landed a fighter jet on the deck of an aircraft carrier for the first time, but it may be years before the ship is fully operational.

China's "first generation multi-purpose carrier-borne fighter jet," known as the J-15, successfully completed its first landing on the Liaoning, an aircraft carrier China built using an abandoned Soviet hull, according to China's official news agency Xinhua.

The J-15's capabilities are comparable to the Russian Su-33 jet and the U.S. F-18, Xinhua reported. The Chinese-designed jet can "carry multi-type anti-ship, air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, as well as precision-guided bombs, the report said.

Biggest thing that jumped out at me was the comparison of the J-15 to an F-18. So China is just now capable of producing aircraft that are 35 years old, and these are their front line fighters. This speaks on several differant levels. It's good, because our F-22's, and F-35's (if they ever actually happen) should have little trouble dealing with them. Our mainstay aircraft though are the equivalent fighters, except they are 30-40 years old, and will be even older if a conflict ever comes around. China is not a military power that is comparable to our own yet, but they are making strong efforts to become a power that we'd be hard pressed to defeat on their turf. Especially with our aversion to sustaining casualties.

In most sports, cold-cocking an opposing player repeatedly in the face with a series of gigantic Slovakian uppercuts would get you a multi-game suspension without pay.

In hockey, it means you have to sit in the penalty box for five minutes.

Biggest thing that jumped out at me was the comparison of the J-15 to an F-18. So China is just now capable of producing aircraft that are 35 years old, and these are their front line fighters. This speaks on several differant levels. It's good, because our F-22's, and F-35's (if they ever actually happen) should have little trouble dealing with them. Our mainstay aircraft though are the equivalent fighters, except they are 30-40 years old, and will be even older if a conflict ever comes around. China is not a military power that is comparable to our own yet, but they are making strong efforts to become a power that we'd be hard pressed to defeat on their turf. Especially with our aversion to sustaining casualties.

I'm with ya. Landing one fighter on an aircraft carrier is a big deal, but those of us who have been around carriers know how incredibly complicated and dangerous it is to handle traffic coming and going. I would be happy to see the Chinese spend money trying to catch up.

China bought the stripped-down 300-metre (990-foot) carrier from Ukraine nearly 10 years ago and refurbished it at the northeastern port of Dalian.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...3109258fda.2c1
They still had to build off from Soviet technology, this is a refurbished soviet carrier, I'm sure much if not most of the technology in the fighter is also from Russia.
They will catch up because for the next 4 years we will move backwards to meet them.

The difference between pigs and people is that when they tell you you're cured it isn't a good thing.